PagesPat's Ponderings

Thursday, December 31, 2009

That's another swap completed. I made five of these Jumbo ATCs (they measure 3.5x5"). I used Basic Grey paper, and colored my images with Copics. The snowflakes at the top of each of my ATCs are from the QuicKutz Revolution border die. The only requirement for these JATCs is a sparkly snowflake somewhere on them.Speaking of QuicKutz, I got an Epic Six for Christmas from my mom. It's on my cabinet, next to my Cricut, but I haven't read the book yet, so I haven't tried it out. I have several 2x2 dies, one or two 4x4 dies, and some other brands of dies like SIzzix. I'm saving up for a Nestabilities set.

Sadly, I received no gift cards this year.

I have been such a sloth this week. Sleeping until ten am isn't enough--no, I have not worn makeup since Christmas Day, and have barely poked my nose out the door except to mail out packages for scrapping friends.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

I made these fold-out cards for a birthday card swap. I feel so on top of things. This is a January card swap, and I just finished today. I also feel a little guilty. Instead of cleaning up and cleaning out my craft room, I have been inking and coloring and folding and piecing. But it's just too durn fun to stop!!

I used the Cupcake option on my Hello Kitty Cricut cartridge for the cover of my card, piecing it together so that the colors of the cupcake match the colors of my patterned paper (mostly from a DCWV stack). The sentiment is stamped with SU stamp.

Here's my scrumptious little birthday mouse, snagging his piece of birthday sweets. He's from Whiff of Joy, and I do believe there's a link on the right for WOJ. I colored him with Copics, although the other cards portray his gray siblings-he's the only brown mouse in the lot.

I bought the sentiment stamp from Archiver's, and I think the words of wisdom are apropos to the occasion. The background paper was white until I used Bubblegum and Key Lime Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels Company.

The pattern for this fold-out card can be found at scor-pal.com under the tutorials link. After folding I looped a piece of coordinating paper around the card to keep it closed and attached my Cricut cupcake to the front. I like the way this turned out--how about you? Thumbs up or thumbs down. Let me know!.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

This was so much fun, but it took almost the whole day to make them all. Luckily I loaded up on caffeine yesterday, since I was up past midnight whipping these out. This is my new favorite card, along with the trifold shutter card.

And to go along with the sentiment inside, it makes a perfect treat box as well. Which fits into a certain swap I'm signed up for.

So I think instead of the birthday card swap, I'm going to use these in a different swap.

I just love the way Tilda works with these cards. Now all I need is the chocolate to fill them with. Next I need to finish my 24 Days Before Christmas album (got five more pages to go), and then work on a few more swaps due in January.

Monday, December 28, 2009

I love Karen's Tutorial Tuesday Blog. She had this tutorial, and I have this birthday card swap coming up in January, so I discovered the perfect pattern. Above the box is closed, and Tilda sitting unwrapping her present adorns the cover. I used K-I ribbon to go around the cover, which also keeps the cover together. The paper is from My Mind's Eye from their Adventure series, called Sun-Kissed Sweet.

I colored my Tildas with Copics, and used the rubons that matched the paper line for added embellishments. Each inside flap has a "pocket" with a scallop tag inside. Each scallop tag has a birthday sentiment stamped on it. And of course you can't just use one Tilda image on a card, right?! So I colored and cut a few more Tildas to decorate the inside of the card as well.

I can't wait to score, cut and put together the other cards needed for the birthday card swap I'm in with LuckyBug Yahoo group (link on the right).

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Christmas wasn't a disaster, though we had a few near misses. But everyone enjoyed themselves in their own way, and we look forward now to a new year. As promised, I've posted some of the pages in my 24 Days Before Christmas.

Although it seemed easy enough, one photo a day up until Christmas, there were a couple days I couldn't remember, or desire, to take a picture, but I did, sometimes on the very mundane parts of my day.

December 17 was easy to take a photo. Our school performed the Nutcracker Suite. The problem was in choosing which of many pictures I took to scrap.

My son's birthday is December 18, and I took off that day to be with him. We went to see the movie Avatar in 3D (awesome movie), and later the whole family went out for Sushi.

More snow fell, and the forest preserves were postcard pretty.

Now that the holiday is behind us, we are homebound couch potatoes this weekend. We have watched the entire first season of Eureka (my Christmas gift), slept late, eaten leftovers and relaxed mightily. Wendy has read ALL her books she received Christmas Day (that's four manga and a novel) and my hubby and son have also watched their respective DVDs.

There's so much more in the works, but I'll save that for later. It's getting late and I'm hoping the Coke I drank this afternoon doesn't keep me up much longer. G'nite.

Friday, December 25, 2009

If you want to retain your Christmas spirit, don't read further. Just check back in a few days. I'm going to vent, When did the holidays fall apart? DO adults see Christmas differently than children? I don't remember this much drama when I was growing up.This Christmas, we have a funeral to look forward to, actually a memorial, as my cousin's wife died earlier this month, much earlier. We won't be seeing my cousing because up until last week, he firmly believed she was going to walk out of the morgue (happily he is now accepting her death and now in full grieving mode and I respect his time to himself).Meanwhile, his dad, my uncle, is on death's door, dying from a brain tumor/cancer. So his half of the family is keeping a very low profile and that's 11 people missing from my dinner tonight.Then there's my other uncle, the crazy one (I mean really crazy). After punching my sister and resisting arrest, after the charges (most of them were dropped), after his arrest earlier this month for DUI, He is depressed and thinks every one hates him (we don't, we're just worried about him, and a little scared of him). Sop my gram, the matriarch of the family, without whom CHristmas wouldn't be CHristmas, wants to stay home with him instead of coming over to be with the sane part of the family. Now we're down to nine.Other than that, I've had a lovely Christmas, got and gave some great presents, thanked God for all we have, and am about to serve the best damn CHristmas turkey dinner this year.Thank for letting me vent. I promise to put some of my latest work on the next post, and shake off this dismal mood. Everyone have a joy-filled Christmas, and a peaceful and relaxing New Year.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

So after I whined on my blog, I spent the last hour and a half of the day scrapping another eight pages in my 24 Days before Christmas album. I felt better, and went to bed, well, not with sugar plums dancing in my head, but feeling more of the Christmas spirit.

Yesterday, I breught down some of my Christmas boxes from the attic and went on a decorating rampage, so the house looks at least respectable.

And today, after coming home from my office Christmas dinner at Appleby's (our tab, not the church's), I finished the Christmas tree. If I do say so myself, it looks beautiful (and about time too).

Although I have to work tomorrow, I have 12/24 off so I can lock myself in my craft room and wrap presents. The turkey is thawing, the kids are cleaning the house (a miracle in itself), and I'm done shopping. I'm on my 4th day of Weight Watchers (does dinner at Appleby count? not right now) and I have crafting goals for 2010. Life is looking much better.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Being raised Catholic, I have this irresistable urge to confess my wrongdoings. So saying, I have to admit that this is the last page I have scrapped for my 24 Days Before Christmas album. I thought I would have a nice finished album to show off Christmas Day, but Dec. 11-18 is sitting in the computer waiting to be printed, and it's almost time to go to bed and I haven't taken one for today!Life gets so busy this month. We put so much pressure on ourselves to make and bake treats, shop for that special something for those special someones, make the house shine--I had a day off today and I can't say that I used it wisely. I didn't bake, I didn't buy presents, unless you count the two gift cards I bought while at the grocery store, I managed one load of clothes and one load of dishes and a clean bathroom before I lost interest. My presents are ready to wrap but I haven't brought out my paper yet. And my scrap room is a sty again!!

The tree is up but not lit, and all my Christmas decorations and the fun stuff I adore to play with at this time of year are still up in the attic. I feel like the song title "Where Are You Christmas?" I need a visit from St. Nick to shake me out of this funk. Tomorrow I'm putting on Christmas music and come hell or high water I'm wrapping presents at the very least. Anything to kick the Christmas spirit into gear.

I have to admit that it is getting more difficulkt to take photos each day. Here you see I took a pic of our office being decorated with blow-up ornaments. I like that the page has hanging ornaments on it.

My co-worker, Gregg, had a birthday in December, so we brought snacks for lunch: chili cheese dip, artichoke dip, and crab butter. No wonder I've started on Weight Watchers again!!

I often go to Panera on a Wednesday morning before work and pick up half a dozen bagels for my gram. She loves them, and only lives about three blocks from the store, but can't drive and can't walk there any more. I also get a chance to visit with her mid-week.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

I love how Daddy and Bella are gazing into each others' eyes--so glad I caught this moment! I am so far behind on printing out and scrapping my photos of the month of December, but I have yet to forget to take a photo each day. Today the school and staff were treated to a performance by the Drama Club of The Nutcracker. We have some very talented students here. The two girls who danced pointe were amazing!! You better beloieve I took plenty of photos of the performance. Now comes the hard part--choosing just one for my album!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I started my day early, taking my daughter into school early for a make-up test. So I got into my craft room early today, and finished this birthday card box. Every Christmas I make enough birthday cards to give to my gram for every member of the family. She's 99 years old and has macular degeneration. Usually I just put the cards in a plain, undecorated box, but this year I wanted to decorate the box in a way that she can see what the box holds. The cards are in their envies with members' names written in LARGE letters so she can see who gets which card. I put the cards in the box in calendar order, so throughout the year all she has to do is reach in and pull out the card in the front and she's good to go.The box is just a plain white coated cardboard one from Michael's, and the pp is from a DCWV stack. The chipboard letters are an assortment of leftovers, and the cover is from a birthday kit swap. The sides of the box (not pictured) are covered with 3D flowers, and I added a pull tab for easier opening. I plan on using this photo in my 24 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS album for today's date, since my life is filled with work hours and this will be something different to scrap.

Monday, December 14, 2009

I have been crafting, I promise! I just haven't had much time to take pictures and post my work. I have scrapped the days before Christmas up to December 10, and have the photos taken up thru today. I even have an idea of what I want to take a picture of tomorrow, but that's another day! On December 3rd, the Chicagoland area got its first snow. It wasn't much, but it sure was pretty! I was able to catch the falling snow with my camera (it didn't last long).

To show how busy I've been, and how much of my life is spent at work, I took a shot at the clock as I caught a glimpse of it and, although I was still banging away at my computer, realized quitting time had come and gone. This is a busy month for us (I work at a school). We have classes this week, then at least the kids will be gone for the next two weeks. We get Christmas Eve and Day, as well as New Year's Eve and Day, off as holidays. I put in for vacation days between CHristmas and New Year's, and boy, am I looking forward to that time off!!

On Saturday, I went to another All Day crop, and my sister enjoyed the last one so much she met me there again. She got 13 pages done. I got nine pages done, plus I finished a few Christmas projects as well.

I'm liking the 8x8 pagesfor this layout, especially when I showcase just one photo on each page. The patterned paper, called "Holiday" from Me & My Big Ideas, is so pretty I hate to cover it up with too many embellishments, so I just frame out the photo, add a journaling tag and maybe one or two embellies that aren't too much 3D.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Check out the bottom of my blog. I and my co-workers have been Elfed!! It is the cutest video of the four of us as elves dancing hip hop! You can also go to Office Max and Elf Yourself. It's too funny--I love it!

I have been hopping this week at work and at home. Although I have grabbed short moments to scrap, I haven't had the time to take photos of my pages yet! Just got home from helping to coordinate a Christmas party for about 20 Catholic Charities families. We served lunch, had carnival games for the kids, set up a craft corner, played Bingo, and offered a secret Santa shop that the kids could"shop" for Christmas presents for their parents. And of course, Santa came with a present for each child. We fundraised and had enough money to spend $20 on each one of 43 kids! I am so tired I don't want to move! But I feel good about the day.

Meanwhile, my random generator (hubby) has picked a number based on the order of posts, and lucky number 14 is the winner. The would be the Paper Princess, Ramona. Congrats, and I will send out your Christmas goodies this week!

I have already made a plan for my 2010 goals, but I want to refine them before posting. Thanks for playing everybody, keep in touch!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

I have had a wonderfully productive year in my craft room. I have doen a major clean out, made over 365 handmade items, and scrapped over 100 pages! My 2009 goals have been met, and that means BLOG CANDY. Pictured above are a 6x6 cloth-bound scrapbook album, 20 6x6 sheets of patterned paper, a 3x3 cardstock stack, various Christmas stickers, Christmas buttons, bling, ribbons, and homemade "snow" embellishment (like flocking). Added to this holiday pile are various Christmas and winter images for your coloring pleasure! I sure hope this offering interests you!!If you would like a chance to win my first ever BLOG CANDY, simply post a comment on this post. Want more than one chance to win? Link this post on your blog and let me know. Not only can I check out your creative efforts, but that's a great way to let you know if you've won!!I will keep the contest open until Friday, December 11, midnight CDST USA, then will pick a random winner. I want to mail the package out so that the winner can use everything for this Christmas.Meanwhile, hope your weekend was fun. I had a great time at a 12 hour crop hosted By Heidi, owner and moderator of LuckyBug Yahoo Groups. My sister joined us and we had loads of laughs, and got a bunch of pages and projects done as well.Have a good week!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

I was up bright and early this morning, in order to catch our Christmas lights just as dawn was breaking. My camera, although good, won't let me change the shutter speed (or it will, I just don't know how to get to that menu...yet). Anyway, I had to have enough light to see the bushes and house, but enough dark to show off the lights.This is my 100th layout page in 2009, marking this day the day I fulfilled my goal of 100 pages this year, as well as the 365 handmade items (that I have now surpassed!). Y'all know what that means. I will have a pretty little bundle of blog candy ready for someone to win. I promise to make the time to post a photo of the candy by the end of the weekend. In the meantime, I am basking in the glory of my victory LOL.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

On the first day of December, Pat took a photo of her desktop pen holder...and scrapped it!I am starting a "25 Days of Christmas" album, taking and scrapping a photo for each day. It may or may not have anything to do with the holiday, but it is still a moment in time leading up to December 25. My own personal Advent calendar of sorts. So here is my first page. I have learned a valuable lesson today. My phone camera is not worthy of my albums. I am going to have to carry my big hunking Canon with me everywhere I go (or not go).